Laura Lippman is a former journalist on the Baltimore Sun. She is the author of the Tess Monaghan PI series, as well as a number of standalones. RTE: Describe yourself in a sentence?

Lippman: I am a tall, high-energy woman with a silly streak.

RTE: What's the one record you'd take to a desert island?

Lippman: There was a collection of Elvis Costello B sides released in the US called Taking Liberties and because I lost it years ago, I fetish-ize it, even though I could probably recreate it on an iPod playlist if I wasn't so lazy.

RTE: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Lippman: A writer. Boring but true.

RTE: Who's your oldest friend?

Lippman: Nancy Goldman Greenberg, but I didn't meet her until I was 15 and went away to summer camp. I dedicated To the Power of Three to her.

RTE: If I ruled the world...

Lippman: I'd be very kind.

RTE: Which book do you wish you'd written?

Lippman: Emma Who Saved My Life, by Wilton Barnhardt.

RTE: What makes you angry?

Lippman: Users.

RTE: Name your five dream dinner party guests.

Lippman: Mark and Claire Billingham, George and Emily Pelecanos and my husband. That's cheating, I suppose, as I've had dinner with that quintet, but I love their company.

RTE: Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?

Lippman: Someone who smells. By the way, I recently rode in an elevator with Dr John, a great favorite of mine, and got to profess my admiration for him, to which he responded: "That's okay, darling, just keep doing what you do."

RTE: What inspired you to start writing?

Lippman: A newspaper editor who told me I needed to work on my writing. So I started a novel.